This invention relates generally to telephone answering machines, and more particularly to a remote call screening device that allows a user to monitor and screen incoming telephone calls.
Originally, answering machines could only provide the user with two ways of screening or monitoring his incoming telephone calls. One way is to play back a previously recorded message that was left on an answering machine. The other way is to listen to the loudspeaker of an answering machine at the same time that the caller is leaving the message. In other words, screen the caller. If at this point the user options to converse with the caller, the user can then pick up a telephone plugged into or near the answering machine. But if the user is in a remote location, away from the answering machine unit, such as in another room or across the house, the user may hear the ringing signal of the telephone but will not be able to screen the incoming telephone call to decide whether or not he wishes to pick up the telephone and speak with that calling party, without his having to run to the other room or across the house to where the answering machine itself is located, in order to hear or screen the caller, who is leaving a message, through the loudspeaker of the answering machine.
Also, answering machines are only accessible in limited ways. One way is by direct manipulation of the actual answering machine unit. The second way is by an outside telephone line with touch-tone capabilities or xe2x80x9cbeeper remotexe2x80x9d. The third way is by a cordless, touch-tone, telephone with corresponding circuitry integrated within a matching answering machine unit. And this last example is limited in its accessibility to an answering machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,259 to Scordato (1989) provides an audio xe2x80x9cscreening modexe2x80x9d in a cordless, touch-tone telephone integrated within an answering machine unit.
A Caller ID provides a visual xe2x80x9cscreening methodxe2x80x9d whereby the telephone number from where a caller is calling from (and sometimes a name associated with that particular telephone number) is displayed on an LCD screen, sometimes with an option to store a limited amount of telephone numbers. Caller ID requires that a special Caller Identification Service be used in conjunction with a Caller ID unit. A Caller Identification Service must be purchased from a telephone company, in addition to your regular telephone service, in order to be able to use a Caller ID. The Caller ID units are singular units within themselves or are integrated within a cordless telephone receiver of an integrated cordless telephone and its matching base unit.
Nevertheless, Scordato patent 4,881,259 and Caller ID suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) The use of Scordato""s system requires a phone.
(b) The use of Scordato""s system requires a cordless phone.
(c) The use of Scordato""s system requires a cordless telephone that must be integrated with its own matching answering machine/recharger base unit.
In the use of Caller ID units that are included within cordless telephone receivers, the cordless telephone receiver also must be integrated with its own matching recharger base unit.
(d) The Scordato system requires that a switch actuator on the cordless receiver unit be turned xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d in order to activate the xe2x80x9cscreener modexe2x80x9d in the matching base answering machine unit. This switch actuator must be turned xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d per incoming call in order to be able to screen incoming calls. Scordato""s invention must be in one of either an active mode xe2x80x9cscreen modexe2x80x9d or in a passive mode xe2x80x9cnon-screen modexe2x80x9d. In order to hear/screen an incoming call, the xe2x80x9cscreen modexe2x80x9d must be activated at the time that a caller is presently calling, and re-activated at the time of each additional call, requiring that the user has to locate and physically be at the cordless telephone receiver of the matching answering machine base unit in order to physically manipulate the actuator command signal (turn it xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d) in order to activate the xe2x80x9cscreen modexe2x80x9d in the answering machine base in order to be able to use this screening function.
(e) The user of the Scordato invention has to physically be at the remote cordless telephone receiver of the matching answering machine base unit, hands on, putting receiver to ear in order to hear the calls being screened as messages are being left.
With Caller ID, the user has to be close enough to pick up and/or be in eyesight (reading) range of any Caller ID unit in order to be able to read the telephone number information on the LCD screen.
(f) With the Scordato invention, telephone calls cannot be screened or listened to by more than one person simultaneously, such as family members who are waiting for their own prospective callers, because the cordless telephone handset receiver of the Scordato invention can only be put to one user""s ear at a time in order to hear the call being screened, and only the person whose ear is on the receiver can hear the call being screened.
(g) Scordato""s invention has a manufacturer installed, fixed xe2x80x9cfamily codexe2x80x9d shared between the answering machine/recharging base unit and its cordless telephone handset receiver unit, thereby limiting its screening use to just one remote screening device: that of the matching cordless telephone handset receiver.
In the cordless telephone version of Caller ID there is also only one cordless telephone receiver per matching recharging base unit, thereby limiting screening use to just one cordless receiver unit.
(h) In Scordato""s invention, a cordless telephone handset receiver needs recharging at a home base unit. Therefore, because a cordless telephone receiver consistently needs recurring recharging or sometimes full charging, the receiver is not always capable of being in a convenient or remote location where a user may happen to be.
The same is true of the cordless telephone version of Caller ID, as it also needs recharging at a home base unit. Therefore it also is not always capable of being in a convenient or remote location where a user may happen to be.
(i) In Scordato""s invention, the only way to turn the screening mode Off and On has its location in the cordless telephone handset receiver unit. Because there is no separate On/Off switch on the matching answering machine/base unit itself to keep the screening mode on the cordless telephone handset receiver from operating (to disable the screen mode on the cordless handset receiver) at the user""s discretion, this does not afford the user/owner with any privacy or control over somebody else picking up the cordless telephone handset receiver and remotely screening the owner""s incoming or recorded calls that were left on his answering machine. The user""s/owner""s only option for this would be to turn the whole answering machine unit off.
(j) In Scordato""s invention, the answering machine/base unit does not have an indicator to show that the screen mode is xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d and being used from the cordless telephone handset receiver, thus the user/owner is not able know when somebody else may be operating the screen mode from the cordless telephone receiver and listening to the user""s/owner""s personal calls. This lacking, also, does not afford the user/owner the option to control his privacy.
(k) The Scordato invention is not capable of recharging and being in a screen mode concurrently, therefore putting limitation on screening availability.
The cordless telephone version of Caller ID is also not capable of recharging and being in a screen mode concurrently, limiting available screening time.
(l) The cordless telephone receiver cannot plug directly into an AC outlet for a constant source of power, again limiting its available screening time to when the cordless telephone receiver is not being recharged in its base.
The same is true, again, of the cordless telephone version of Caller ID.
(m) The cordless telephone receiver is not equipped with a source for an optional adapter plug with cord in order to maintain an active screen mode and a concurrent constant source of power.
The same is true of the cordless telephone version of Caller ID.
(n) There are many other reasons that Caller ID is not very practical, such as:
Most people only have a few telephone numbers memorized in their heads, therefore, as a calling party is calling, the user of Caller ID must rack his brain as to whom the phone number belongs to that is being displayed on the LCD.
If a user is expecting or receiving a call from a first-time caller, the user of Caller ID probably won""t have any idea who""s phone number is being displayed on the LCD screen of his Caller ID unit. And even if a name is displayed with the telephone number, the user still has no way of knowing who is really on the line nor no way of finding out the content of the call, what it""s regarding, etc. through a Caller ID.
If the user is expecting a call from a favored someone (favored caller) who happens to be calling from a different phone or location than what is stored for them in the Caller ID unit or memorized in the user""s head for that particular person, the user is at a loss as to who is calling.
The user may not wish to converse with other-wise-favored callers at certain particular times, though these callers may have their phone numbers stored as preferred caller numbers in the Caller ID unit.
The user may not wish to converse with a caller depending on what kind of message the caller has for him or what the caller has to say, and a Caller ID LCD phone number display is not going to help in these instances, whether or not the caller is calling from a preferred number.
The user may wish to speak to only a certain particular caller from a selected stored phone number and not to the other people that may live there at that same number, but the user of the Caller ID unit is not able to discern who from that telephone number really is calling.
So, in regards to that just mentioned, and also for that of non-stored telephone numbers or non-familiar telephone numbers, in order to really screen his calls, the user would then still need to be at his answering machine unit in order to hear the calls being screened, despite having Caller ID.
(o) Caller ID requires that a special Caller Identification Service be used in conjunction with a Caller ID unit. The service must be purchased from a telephone company in addition to your regular telephone service in order to be able to use a Caller ID system. This service is only available where the service is provided.
(p) In order to protect their own safety and privacy, most consumers have chosen to block Caller ID so that their own personal telephone numbers will not be forwarded to someone else""s Caller ID unit, in order to keep their telephone number private and their location private, for safety and other privacy reasons.
Accordingly, there are several objects and advantages of the present invention, and with additional features, there are even still further objects and advantages. The remote screening device and/or its functions and capabilities, and the remote operational/screening device and/or its functions and capabilities of the present invention are herein referred to as Remotes. Call receiving and storage devices will mostly be referred to as answering machines, but are not restricted to such. Objects and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) To provide an externally audible Remote screening device to be used for or with a call receiving and storage device including call answering machine, service, device, or message storage.
(b) To provide an externally audible Remote screening device with remote operational capabilities to be used for or with a call receiving and storage device including call answering machine, service, device, or message storage.
(c) To provide an answering machine Remote device(s) that is not limited to the use of a phone. No phone is needed.
(d) To provide answering machine Remote device(s) that are not limited to use of a cordless telephone or any other type of phone. No specific type of phone is needed.
(e) To provide Remote device(s) that are not limited to touch-tone use or signal tone use.
(f) 1. To provide Remote device(s) that can be heard, listened to, and understood (is audible) from a distance away from the actual Remote screening device, such as heard from across a room or heard from another room or area (because a Remote is outwardly audible), without necessitating that a user has to physically be at the place where a Remote unit is presently located. Without necessitating that the user, as in the case of the Scordato patent, have to get up and go across a room or go to another room in order to pick up the cordless screening telephone receiver because of the need to put the cordless screening telephone receiver up to one""s ear in order to hear the caller being screened.
2. To provide a Remote device where the user does not have to be within reading distance of a visual screening unit, as is the case with Caller ID, in the order that he must see a phone number being displayed in order that he may screen a call.
(g) 1. To provide for a Remote device(s) that allows for more than one person at a time to be able to hear the calls being screened. The calls can be screened simultaneously by, for example, the whole family, roommates, co-workers, etc. allowing for all of them to screen, or listen, simultaneously, while waiting for their own individual, prospective callers, as there is no need to put a screening telephone receiver up to any one individual""s ear. My invention is outwardly audible and can be heard from a distance from itself, eliminating the limitation of only one user at a time who can screen. This thereby allows for every individual, in a household, for example, to discern whom the call is for and discriminate whether or not it is for him or her.
2. To provide for a Remote device where there is no need for everyone to get up to look at and read a telephone number being displayed on a visual display screen in order to screen their calls.
(h) To provide a Remote device(s) that is able to stay and remain in an active screening mode (On) without necessitating that the user, as in the case of the Scordato patent, has to actively search, locate, and/or physically be at a screening telephone handset receiver unit in order for the user to have to activate a command that allows for the screening process per incoming call. Eliminating this requirement, and/or providing alternative methods, allowing for a Remote device to remain and stay in an active (On) mode, provides for convenience, and is also thus potentially faster as the user is not likely to miss screening a call, or part of a call, due to a possibility of having to spend time searching for a screening handset receiver that may be located elsewhere in another room or across the house, for example, and then, once located, having to activate its screening process.
Depending On Embodiment, Further Objects and Advantages are:
(i) To provide remote operational and/or screening devices, units, or capabilities that either/and/or:
1. Do not require a fixed xe2x80x9cfamily codexe2x80x9d between an answering machine and Remote device(s), as this can limit the user to just the matching Remote devices that may be packaged along with a paired answering machine and can further limit the possible later purchase of additional Remote devices for the possible use in more areas, or rooms, at a time, and/or possibly,
2. By providing that Remotes may be made to be programmable to work with an answering machine, and/or that Remotes may be made to be manipulated into fitting into a fixed xe2x80x9cfamily codexe2x80x9d of an already purchased answering machine that has a fixed xe2x80x9cfamily codexe2x80x9d, and/or possibly,
3. By providing that answering machines can be manufactured as xe2x80x9cRemote compatiblexe2x80x9d, this allows the possible purchase and addition of multiple Remote devices or units at later dates, and/or possibly,
4. By providing that several Remote devices at a time can be packaged along with its paired answering machine unit. This may or may not involve a fixed xe2x80x9cfamily codexe2x80x9d.
(j) To provide a Remote capability or device that can give the choice of different channels or frequencies for:
1. best reception abilities, and/or
2. so that other persons in, e.g. the same household or neighboring area, may own and operate their own individual Remote units and answering machine units, without interference from or with another neighboring person""s units.
(k) To provide a Remote device that can plug directly into an AC outlet for a constant source of screening and/or operating power.
(l) To provide a Remote device that has the capacity to recharge and still be able to concurrently operate, and/or receive and transmit a screened call so that screening and/or operating usage can be indefinite.
(m) To provide a Remote device(s) that doesn""t need recharging in a xe2x80x9chome basexe2x80x9d unit, thereby adding to its convenience, as a Remote unit or device is more capable of constantly being available to the user in remote locations without having to return it to a xe2x80x9chomebasexe2x80x9d recharging unit. And with the use of multiple Remote units or devices, several variable remote locations are available simultaneously for placement.
(n) To provide a Remote device with the means to remotely operate and access the functions of an answering machine.
(o) To provide an answering machine with a separate On/Off control switch for the overriding control of the Remote device(s). This Remote-override control switch, located on the answering machine, separate from the answering machine""s own main On/Off switch, allows the user to turn Off the Remote(s) abilities from the location of the answering machine unit itself without having to turn off the whole answering machine. This thereby prevents someone else from unauthorized remote usage of the Remote unit(s). This overriding control switch provides the user with control of his privacy; no one will be able to remotely screen the user""s calls nor operate the user""s answering machine from the Remotes, and, yet, the user is still left with the operable use of his answering machine""s own usual functional capabilities, as the answering machine is still in its own On mode.
(p) To provide a simple to use Remote device or unit, preferably small in size, and light in weight, with a greater ease of portability, that can be kept and/or transferred to and from inconspicuous placements, providing for greater accessibility.
(q) To provide the user with an answering machine remote operational device that provides life with a little more convenience, saving time and labor, as the user will have the ability to operate and access his answering machine and/or screen his calls (incoming or recorded) remotely from another room, from a distance, or from outside, away from an answering machine unit, with a Remote unit, device, or capability. A Remote can be remotely placed, and simultaneously be kept in an active On mode. This eliminates any need for the user to have to get up and/or turn On any activation mechanism per incoming call being screened.
(r) To provide and realize an almost untapped market and an existing need. What is on the market is either relatively unknown, uneconomical, and/or unpractical. Since portable phones with their matching answering machines can be a relatively expensive purchase, what my invention provides is more economical for the consumer than the Scordato patent, as in a preferred embodiment there is no need for the purchase or use of a cordless phone, and more than one Remote can be used with, and/or included with, an answering machine.
In order to use a Caller ID system, a person must pay not only for the special equipment, but they must also pay a phone company for the added Caller ID service that must be purchased in order to be able to use Caller ID. And, most importantly, Caller ID is not very practical; Since most people don""t like their telephone numbers being given out, and most people have opted to block Caller ID, which means that no matter even if a user has Caller ID service, those numerous people who have blocked Caller ID have phone numbers that are not accessible to the user with a Caller ID system: They are xe2x80x9cunscreenablexe2x80x9d.
(s) To provide for a more cost effective means for manufacturers and consumers:
1. Since circuitry is less complicated than the Scordato patent, it should be cheaper to build, and in turn should be less expensive for consumers to buy. Less expensive equals more affordability for the consumer, which, in theory, equals a higher probability that the masses will buy.
2. Most households contain at least one answering device or machine. Most answering machines are replaced every few years; therefore my invention should be easy to sell not only to consumers, but to manufacturers as well.
3. In providing the option of more than one Remote, or numerous Remotes that are capable of being used in conjunction with or interacting with a telephone answering device or machine, and/or the option of being able to use and purchase additional Remotes at a later date than the original purchase of an answering device or machine, gives the purchaser a broader consumer choice and a greater array of remote abilities. This is also another potential selling point to and for a manufacturer.
4. Even throughout a changing technology, my invention could be made and sold for many years without becoming outmoded or obsolete. Hence, it has a long life cycle potential, which would justify capital expenditures for tooling and conducting advertising campaigns.
The user is thus provided with a remote call screening unit or capability, and/or remote call screening unit or capability along with remote operational capability, to be used to listen to, remotely screen, and/or remotely operate and access an answering machine, with either of the units (the Remote or the answering machine), or each unit, having appropriate inner workings to allow such capabilities, the features not restricted to any particular type of telephone or to any telephone at all. Such an invention has not even been hitherto available.
Still further objects and advantages, many not already mentioned above, will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing specification, claims, and drawings.